Richard Sanders
An undersea cable connecting Taiwan to Penghu County was severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs announced today, with suspicions pointing toward a Chinese-funded ship. This incident comes just a month after another Chinese vessel was suspected of damaging an undersea cable near Keelung Harbor.
The National Communications and Cyber Security Center reported at 3:03 AM that Chunghwa Telecom’s No. 3 cable to Penghu was cut 14.7 km off the coast of Tainan. The vessel in question, the Togolese-flagged freighter Hong Tai (宏泰), was monitored by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) after Chunghwa Telecom’s alert.
The freighter was in the vicinity from 7:10 PM on Saturday until the time the cable was severed. Following a second report at 3 AM suggesting external force could have been responsible, the CGA intercepted the ship and called for reinforcements. Although boarding the vessel was not possible due to height differences, it was escorted back to Tainan port where the crew was detained for investigation.
Despite flying Togo’s flag, Hong Tai is Chinese-owned, with all eight crew members on board being Chinese. Furthermore, discrepancies were found in the ship’s identification, as its automatic identification system name did not match its radio identification or the name on the hull.
In response to the severed cable, the digital ministry instructed Chunghwa Telecom to reroute traffic through other cables connecting Taiwan’s main island to offshore islands. The company was also directed to prioritize the repair of this cable after completing work on previously damaged Taiwan-Matsu No. 2 and No. 3 cables, expected to be finished by the end of this and next month, respectively.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs has submitted a report to the Executive Yuan, designating Taiwan’s undersea cables as critical infrastructure. Additionally, measures to enhance resilience, such as establishing more monitoring stations and subsidizing telecom operators for cable repairs and backup communication systems like microwave infrastructure, are being planned.
